License plate-reading cameras installed in downtown Las Vegas

The city of Las Vegas announced Tuesday that it had installed cameras that read license plates in the downtown area ahead of Tuesday’s New Year’s Eve festivities.

City officials said Tuesday that the 22 cameras at 11 locations had gone live.

“These cameras read license plates and notify law enforcement in real time of stolen and wanted vehicles,” the city wrote in a news release. “The cameras will improve public safety during New Year’s Eve festivities and beyond.”

Thousands of revelers were expected to ring in 2025 at the Fremont Street Experience and surrounding establishments.

The city said that the cameras will not be used to monitor or enforce traffic-related infractions.

Most of the cameras were placed around the tourist corridor downtown while the rest were installed at the entrance and exits of Lorenzi Park, according to the city.

Privacy advocates expressed concerns after Henderson police announced in October that they were installing additional license-plate-reading cameras throughout the city and on patrol vehicles.

The privacy experts questioned how data collected from those cameras will be used. They criticized the overall use of surveillance technology by law enforcement.

Henderson police Lt. Tony Niswonger previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the department’s new cameras will take images of a vehicle’s license plates and cross-check plates against a list of vehicles that have been flagged as linked to criminal activity or involved in missing or endangered persons.

According to the department, the added cameras brought Henderson police’s total to 72.

Henderson police said the cameras, which would be placed in strategic areas of the city, include 54 that are mounted on stationary poles and 18 that were mounted on police vehicles.

Review-Journal reporter Ricardo Torres-Cortez contributed to this story.